Constantine the Great
c. 272 CE–c. 337 CE · Naissus
Founder of the Constantinian dynasty who reunified the Roman Empire under sole rule and founded Constantinople as his new capital. With his co-emperor Licinius he issued the Edict of Milan (313 CE), granting legal toleration to Christianity and ending its persecution. In 325 CE he convened the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council, which produced the Nicene Creed affirming the full divinity of Christ against the Arian position, and ruled that Easter be calculated independently of the Jewish calendar. His reign also issued imperial laws restricting Jewish practice, including bans on Jews owning Christian slaves and severe penalties on conversion to Judaism.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→
Naissus
What they did here
Constantine was born at Naissus in the province of Moesia (modern Niš, Serbia), son of the officer Constantius and Helena.
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Constantine the Great’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Graeco-Roman world
- Probus· 232 CE–282 CE
- Porphyrius· 234 CE–305 CE
- Iamblichus· 242 CE–325 CE
- Diocletian· 244 CE–311 CE
- Maximian· 250 CE–310 CE
- Constantius Chlorus· 250 CE–306 CE
- Menander Rhetor· 250 CE–290 CE
- Carinus· 250 CE–285 CE
- Numerian· 253 CE–284 CE
- Galerius· 258 CE–311 CE
- Licinius· 265 CE–325 CE
- Maximinus Daza· 270 CE–313 CE
- Maxentius· 278 CE–312 CE
- Pappus Alexandrinus· 290 CE–350 CE
- Heliodorus of Emesa· 300 CE–375 CE
- Quintus Smyrnaeus· 315 CE–375 CE
- Constantine II· 316 CE–340 CE
- Constantius II· 317 CE–361 CE
- Calcidius· 321 CE–321 CE
- Valentinian I· 321 CE–375 CE
- Constans· 323 CE–350 CE
- Emperor Julian· 331 CE–363 CE
- Jovian· 331 CE–364 CE
- Severus II· –307 CE
Jewish world
Christian world
Scientists
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.